Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Tsunami Sadness

This breakdown of figures was in my newspaper today. I find it difficult to digest such a catastrophe and can only pray if it occurs again, no deaths will occur.

THE number of people believed killed in December's tsunami disaster topped 296,000 today, more than six weeks after the catastrophe, as Indonesia again increased its number of dead.Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total of 243,530 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said in its latest figures.
The ministry said the number of people confirmed dead and buried had increased to 115,628 while the number of people missing and almost certainly dead remained at 127,774.
Thailand's toll remained at 5393 confirmed dead. A further 3071 people were listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners.
The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Centre for National Operations.

The number of people listed as missing was 5,637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed death toll.
In neighbouring India, the official death toll was 10,749 with 5,640 still reported missing and feared dead.
The Government was soon expected to draw up final casualty figures in which the missing were declared dead.
Burma has said 61 people were killed in the tsunamis.
At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives.
In Malaysia 68 people were dead, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.
On the east coast of Africa, 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya. Relief workers have said they believe the figure for Somali fatalities to be exaggerated.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades.
Death toll:
Indonesia: 243,530
Sri Lanka: 30,957
India: 16,389
Thailand: 5,393
Maldives: 82
Malaysia: 68
Burma: 61
Bangladesh: 2
Somalia: 298
Tanzania: 10
Kenya: 1
Total: 296,791
The figures include 127,774 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5640 in India.
In addition, 3071 people are listed as missing in Thailand and 5637 in Sri Lanka but not included in the toll because of possible double counting.